User:Trtwe34/Taccola

Life and career[edit]
Mariano Taccola was born in Siena in 1382. Practically nothing is known of his early years of training or apprenticeship. As an adult, he pursued a varied career in Siena, working in such diverse jobs as notary, university secretary, sculptor, superintendent of roads and hydraulic engineer. Notably, he created a series of woodcarvings for the Duomo, a cathedral in Florence in June 26, 1408. Taccola married a woman named Madonna Nanna, likely around 1420, and had a daughter named Alba in either 1426 or 1428.(Beck p.10)(Scaglia et al p.5-9) In the 1440s, Taccola retired from his official positions, receiving a pension from the state. He is known to have joined the fraternal order of San Jacomo by 1453 and presumably died around that date.

Work and style[edit]
Taccola left behind two treatises, the first being De ingeneis (Concerning engines), work on its four books starting as early as 1419. Having been completed in 1433, Taccola continued to amend drawings and annotations to De ingeneis until about 1449. In the same year, Taccola published his second manuscript, De machinis (Concerning machines), in which he restated many of the devices from the long development process of his first treatise. Taccola also worked in maintenance and advancement of Sienna's waterworks system, which was one of the most advanced of the time.

Drawn with black ink on paper and accompanied by hand-written annotations, Taccola depicts in his work a multitude of 'ingenious devices' in hydraulic engineering, milling, construction and war machinery. Taccola's designs credited to him include an underground explosive mine, a suction cup, an underwater breathing device, and various crane designs, among many other novel devices. However, historians have questioned the seriousness of some of his designs, such as one of his designs requiring a floating cart being pulled by oxen that walked underwater without breathing. '''Furthermore, it should be noted that there is only one reference recorded in his writings of Taccola actually creating and testing his designs, so his creations were likely mostly theoretical. ''' Taccola's drawings show him to be a man of transition: While his subject matter is already that of later Renaissance artist-engineers, his method of representation still owes much to medieval manuscript illustration. Notably, with perspective coming and going in his drawings, Taccola seemed to remain largely unaware of the ongoing revolution in perspective painting. This is the more curious, since he is the only man known to have interviewed the 'father of linear perspectivity' himself, Filippo Brunelleschi. Despite these graphic inconsistencies, Taccola's style has been described as being forceful, authentic and usually to be relied upon to capture the essential.

Influence and rediscovery[edit]
The work of Taccola, named the 'Sienese Archimedes', stands at the beginning of the tradition of Italian Renaissance artist-engineers, with a growing interest in technological matters of all kinds. Taccola communicated with many notable people in his time, including Brunelleschi, a notable artist, and King Sigismund, who gave him the rank of Humilate, or familiar. (p.11-15) He was also twice nominated to join the Sienese "Guild of Judges and notaries," although he failed to join both times after failing to show up for his final approval. (p.7)Taccola's drawings were copied and served as a source of inspiration by such as Buonacorso Ghiberti, Francesco di Giorgio, and perhaps even Leonardo da Vinci. Of special historical importance are his drawings of the ingenious lifting devices and reversible-gear systems which Brunelleschi devised for the construction of the dome of the Florence cathedral, at the time the second widest in the world. His works were copied as manuscripts multiple times through the 15th century.

Interest in Taccola's work, however, practically ceased some time after his death until the late 20th century, one reason perhaps being that his treatises circulated only as hand-copied books, with at least three of them remaining extant today. Taccola's original manuscripts, whose style turned out to be more sophisticated than those of its copies, were rediscovered and identified in the state libraries of Munich and Florence in the 1960s, giving impetus for the first printed editions of both De ingeneis and De machinis in subsequent years, beginning with the publishing of part of De ingeneis in 1969 by J.H. Beck.

Response to Peer Review:
Life and career: The suggestion to add dates regarding major events in Taccola's life is a good one. According to the reviewer, approximate dates for both of those events are included in my documents, so I will make sure to include those. (in progress)

Work and style: Regarding the suggestion to add more information about Sienna's waterworks system, I am unsure if there is a succinct and non-interruptive way to include extra information on the subject. As far as I have read, not much is known about Taccola's specific contributions to the waterworks system, and a description of the waterworks system would be difficult to condense into the article, so I will link to this Wikipedia article: Bottini of Siena, which describes the waterworks system in detail, which should provide plenty of information for anyone who is interested. It may be useful to link other articles as well, to provide more information on related subjects, so I will consider this. (done)

Influence and rediscovery: I agree that the "furthermore" in the first sentence was unnecessary, especially since I had already used it a few paragraphs above, and I will remove it. I will also add an end quote to "Guilds of Judges and notaries." (done)

Overall: I appreciate the positive review, and I will make sure to continue making sure my additions flow well with the existing structure of the article, as was pointed out in the review. Also, since the reviewer seemed positive about all of the information I have added, I will make sure to leave all of the current information and not edit any of it out.